Funding Circle’s loan book totaled £198,952,900 as of December 31st 2013. On Friday of last week the number exceeded £298,952,900 – and today has passed the £300 million milestone. These figures, supplied by AltFi Data, serve to illustrate a clear and sudden quickening in the growth of the platform. It took Funding Circle nearly 2.5 years since launching in August 2010 to reach £200 million. Should the platform continue to expand at its current rate, AltFi Data predicts that total volume lent via the platform will reach £437 million by the end of 2014. This would mean a more than doubling in the volume of loans lent via Funding Circle in this year alone. But even so lofty a prediction may be considered conservative when one factors in the recent partnership struck between the platform and Santander.
David De Koning, Head of Communications at Funding Circle, commented:
“The growth we have seen over the last six months is clear evidence that small businesses place speed, transparency and efficiency at the heart of borrowing.
"Marketplace lending is increasingly becoming a mainstream part of financial services and there is significant potential for further growth over the next few years. We recently announced a partnership with Santander and this will create thousands more opportunities for small businesses to access finance and increase awareness of alternative sources of finance."
